Tuesday, March 31, 2009

March 2009 will have to go down as one of the craziest months of my entire life!

I moved out of my old house

I moved in with my younger sister and brother in law

My brother got married

I moved out from my sisters house and into my new house

I went to the Stitches and Craft show

I had my very first stall at a craft market

All of that, on top of my normal everyday life was completely exhausting but also enjoyable (except for the moving house bit because that just sucked big time).

Watching

Sadly, I no longer have Foxtel. I really miss all of my favourite shows, and not being able to just tape them and watch them whenever I feel like it. At the moment, the only must see tv is Brothers and Sisters, and I try to catch The Bold and the Beautiful at least twice a week (that's always enough to know what's happening). Channel 10 have now moved Dexter to some ridiculous ever changing time on a Sunday night. I'll have to just buy the DVD.

Reading

I finally finished Knit Two. I don't want to give anything away but it seems to me that there may just be a third book in the wings

Eating

I had a lovely piece of cake for afternoon tea today. I have some old bananas, so Flo's banana cake may be on the menu tomorrow.... or I could make fried bananas in toffee sauce and have it with ice-cream - yum!

Making

A handbag for my Auntie. She's going overseas in May and she's requested a new handbag for the trip. I really want to make her a handbag with a zip closure as it's more secure for a trip like that.

I've been meaning to show and tell this lovely mixed pack of Greenolive fabric that I received from Martine at the Stitches and Craft Show earlier this month.

I've been dreaming about little projects that I'm going to make with it.....

My little nephews would love some appliqued t-shirts with the bike print. I've run out of vliesofix, so a trip to Spotlight is on the list for today.

I want to make something for myself with the butterfly print... but I'm not quite sure what. I'm thinking a zippered purse, a handbag panel, a cushion cover, a covered canvas for the wall.... so many options!

Monday, March 30, 2009

Eye Spy is a little bit late this week, but I have an extremely good reason. I was busy discovering a new toy on the side of the road.

It's hard rubbish collection time once again in outer suburbia and I had absolutely no intentions of going anywhere to look for anything yesterday..... but then my sister came over to help me unload my car.

On the way to my house, she happened to spy a perfectly good portacot on the side of the road. I have a portacot already, but now I need another one for my house, so that the twins can be separated when they come to visit and it's time for a little baby nap.

Anyway, she wanted me to drive the car so that she could jump out and inconspicously pick it up in broad daylight. That trip took less than 5 minutes, so with the portacot in the car, we decided to scout around some of my local streets.

About three blocks from my house, out of the corner of my eye, I spyed a wooden box on the side of the road amongst a pile of rubbish. I immediately said to my sister that I thought that it might just be an old sewing machine. I reversed back, and she jumped out and picked it up and shoved it in the back of the car.

We arrived back home and opened up the case and found a 1950's Singer 201K sewing machine.

Thanks to Silly Gilly providing me with somelinks, I've been able to determine from the series register number (EJ653360) that it is definitely is a 201K. There were 30000 allotted from May 11, 1954, and it was manufactured in Clydebank, Scotland.

It still had the the sewing cotton and the bobbin threaded in the machine, so I plugged it in and switched it on and it sews like a dream!

There is a little opening on the right hand side of the case which opens up, and inside was the original instructions for the machine (sadly soaked in sewing machine oil which had spilled).....

It also contained all of these different feet and bobbins and even spare needles.

I can't believe that someone had actually put this out for the hard rubbish collection. Thank goodness I rescued it. I've found a copy of the original sewing instructions online so that I can have a proper play with it sometime during the week.

Thankyou so much to Megan for choosing this weeks theme... maybe that was the reason that I made the discovery before the garbage collectors. Head on over to visit Cindy to play along!

Sunday, March 29, 2009

It was much better than I could have ever expected. The weather was beautiful, the location was fantastic, the stallholders were happy and friendly, there was a steady stream of customers all day long, and the five hours were over in a flash.

The kids craft table and the face painting was a huge hit with the little ones.

It was just like a huge crafty blogmeet - it was lovely to see Cindy, Bec, Liesl, Bev, Nikki, Leah, Ann-Marie, Liz, and Lara. I hope I didn't miss anyone (I have a terrible memory these days)!We ate lovely cupcakes and drank coffee and chatted about crafty things all day long....

An extra special thanks goes to Sel, Cathy and Ms L for helping me out with the packing, unpacking, and set up etc, and to Rach for helping me unload everything today..... and to everyone who came along to visit or bought a little crafty something from me!

Friday, March 27, 2009

I'm still slowly unpacking, and the pile of boxes is getting a little smaller as the days go by.I've even been substituting boxes for pieces of furniture.

I've been searching for a new bedside table for a couple of weeks now. I've been to three different furniture shops and only found one bedside table that I actually liked. Then there was a slight problem, as the bedside table was part of a set. To split the set, they wanted to charge $350 for one bedside table...eeeeek!

But then yesterday, I headed out, and the op-shop gods were smiling as I found this little beauty at the Salvos for $15.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

There's actually nothing much creative happening right at this very moment in time.

I absolutely hate being rushed at the last minute (might have something to do with the fact that rushing is a physical impossibility)..... so I'm packing everything up early so it's all ready for the market on Saturday.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Well I'm not actually wearing anything that could be deemed interesting enough to blog about today.... although I did do a little op-shopping on Tuesday and picked up some new shorts, corduroy pants and jeans.They're all in the washing machine right now.

Thanks for all the cheeriness yesterday. My mojo is back so I might actually switch the sewing machine back on today.... but I'm thinking that I might bake a chocolate cake first (don't get too excited... it's a Greens Packet Mix)!

Monday, March 23, 2009

I made this new handbag for myself about 6 weeks ago now, and I've been carrying it around and testing it out ever since. It's the perfect size to fit everything that I need to carry around on a daily basis.

I decided to try a slightly larger version today using a lovely Umi Komache fabric panel teamed with macrosuede.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

So this is my new backyard..... it's certainly not everyone's idea of a beautiful backyard, but to me, it's absolutely perfect.

When I was looking for houses, it was extremely difficult to find one with a tiny no maintenance garden. This is just about the ultimate low maintenance garden - some pavers, and a patch of dirt with a few weeds growing through.

As I can't garden myself, this eliminates the need for me to rely on anyone else for help, which certainly takes a load off my shoulders...... and leaves more time for crafting!

Friday, March 20, 2009

I've been searching high and low for a mannequin or dressmakers dummy for what seems like the longest time ever! I've tried freecycle, ebay, the oppy, secondhand shops.... all with no luck.

My mum arrived on my doorstep Wednesday night with a housewarming present - she was advertised in the local paper (a place where I would have never thought to look).Mum suggested that I should christen her Frances, because that's her middle name... and now it's sort of stuck, so, may I introduce you to my new model - Frances.

The reason why she deserves to be my Love Friday post - well, now I don't have to model my own creations and try to take self-timed shots with the camera.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

My creative space is still a bit of a work in progress - I've just moved the furniture around again thismorning.... trying to find the perfect combination of floor space and work space.

I have lots of tea towels just freshly washed and ironed and waiting to be transformed into new creations for the market.

... and some more new tea towels too. The two on the right arrived on moving day from Silly Gilly - beautiful colours and the perfect year too (1974)!

The one on the left was delivered by my sister yesterday after a visit to RCH. Moo Moo had a bike accident a couple of weeks ago and had to go in to have his two front teeth removed. Poor little munchkin!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

It’s almost impossible to imagine how it must feel to face the task of rebuilding after losing your home in the Bushfires. But we are hoping to contribute in a small way by making and donating quilts for people who have lost their homes. So please come along to our Quilting Bee. There are lots of ways you can contribute:

Come along for all or part of the day to sew

Donate fabric, batting or backings for use

Make any 12 inch block and send it in and we will make them up into quilts on the day

You might have a half-done quilt top you are happy to donate to be finished off

Spread the word - please pass on to all of your crafty friends

We particularly need backings and offers of machine quilting or hand quilting (either on the day or afterwards) though and are happy to list down the businesses that support us so if you think of anyone you can ask please let me know.

It would be great to see as many people come along as possible so if you are free please consider joining in…..and the bonus is not only are we helping out in some little way but it’s sure to be a really fun day!

There are appoximately 20 quilt tops that are ready to be transformed into lovely warm quilts, so please go along and help if you can.

Monday, March 16, 2009

I'm just a little bit late in joining in with this one but I couldn't resist as the theme was 'School Lunches'.

My sister was unpacking boxes of books to put in the bookcase on the weekend, and she found my Choir scrapbook from Grade 6. All of the loose papers fell out and amongst them was the price list from the school canteen from 1986. Click on photo for larger view.

This is from Gray St Primary School in Hamilton (Western Victoria). A vegemite sandwich was only 54 cents and you could get a Razz or a Sunnyboy for just 25 cents.

From memory, I always ordered a Pie and a small Big M, and then we could usually buy Zooper Doopers once we'd eaten the real food!

I can't believe I still have this..... I've moved house at least fourteen times since Grade 6 (I blame my hoarding genes)

It feels like I've been gone forever..... but it's only been a couple of weeks

This is what I've been up to!

Every single room in the house is still a work in progress.

The craft space is nearly at a level where I could actually create something... imagine that!

The port-a-cot just needs to be moved to the spare bedroom, and there are a few more bits and pieces yet to find homes, but the whole place is starting to actually look liveable once more.

I am really behind on reading emails and blogs. Getting an internet connection was a real struggle because I don't need or want a home phone. I've ended up with an overpriced pre-paid Telstra wireless plan while I wait for Three wireless to be extended into my area..... but I just can't live without the internet, so there's a price that must be paid.

I might still be a little quiet over the next week or so while I continue to unpack and catch up on all my favourite bloggers.

I did manage to make it to the Stitches and Craft show on Saturday and catch up with Cathy, Nikki, Liz, Fi, Justine, and Jenny, and I finally had the chance to meet Martine and Michelle and Johanna which was lovely. I hope I didn't miss anyone. I wanted to go and say hi to Louise and Cathy from Audrey and Maude but they were surrounded by customers. I also missed Jodie and Michelle who were over in the the other building when I visited... drats.

I have some photos on my mobile phone, but do you think I can actually find the usb cable to download them???

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

In the last couple of weeks, this is the one little crafty thing that I've managed to create.It's a market apron for Tinniegirl to wear at the Stitches and Craft show that begins in Melbourne today.

You may recognise the gorgeous birdie placemat that I've used for a pocket. It's one of the set of three that Lynsey from Swirly Thoughts and Cuteable sent me all the way from the UK.I'm going to make myself a market apron using one of the other birdie placemats.

I can't find the presser foot for my Janome (it's packed in a box somewhere), so I had to use my sisters Husky to whip this one up. I've never tried a Husky before, but I liked it! I might just have to borrow it at some stage so that I can send my poor overworked machine in for a service.

My new house settles today so I should be picking up the keys sometime after 11AM. I'm extremely excited! The moving van is bringing back all of my earthly possessions tomorrow (including my bed), so it's only one more sleep and I'll be back in my own place once again.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

My brother and his fiance were finally married yesterday.The weather was absolutely perfect for a wedding.The bride looked stunning in white..... my little brother looked stunning in his suit teamed with his white DC's.

The view from the reception was lovelyThe Best Man made the wedding cake

There have been lots of amazingly wonderful crafty things donated for the auctions, including one of my Tea Towel Aprons - you can see a photo here: I've used a vintage pre-loved 'Victoria's Great Ocean Road' tea towel with some vintage floral sheeting for this one.

I'll be launching the Tea Towel Aprons and a new Handbag Design at the Made'n'Thornbury Market at the end of the month.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

I've moved out of my old house. The new owners came to do the final inspection lastnight.

After the moving van took all of my possessions away to put into storage, I realised that they'd taken away my little red suitcase in which I'd specially packed all of my underwear. After two days of moving and not enough sleep, and the prospect of being bra-less and undie-less, I had a little bit of a teary meltdown. But, I managed to pull myself together and go shopping (I dread shopping for bras...aaggghhh)!

Now, I have some lovely new underwear so I'm happy again.

I am seriously questioning my sanity after thinking that I would be able to get any crafting done in the next couple of weeks while I'm staying with my sister. I ended up packing the craft supplies in a huge rush on Friday without labelling anything, and just throwing random things in to boxes. Suffice to say, that now I can't actually find anything. Luckily, I did actually manage to locate my rotary cutter thismorning... just in case I need to cut some fabric for some non-existent sewing.

They need volunteers for the Craft Bar, a brand new development at this year's show. The volunteers have unvolunteered themselves leaving a craft bar with no crafters!

The Craft Bar is a fun, free place where crafters can go and have fun with papercraft, sewing, knitting or embroidery. There are several crafty dishes on the menu, all you have to do is choose one.

The volunteers (that's you) will be at the Craft Bar showing people how to do so some of the stitching projects.

As a volunteer, here's what's involved:• working at the show for free, each day from 8.30am to 5pm• free entry to the show• lots of fun, the chance to meet people and share your passion for crafting• small perks (not sure what this entails, but its sure to be great!)

So if you are crafty, have free time during the days the Show is on, and you would like to help out, contact Angela: angela.gualtieri[at]livingcreatively.com.au